FrenZy
frenZy (also spelt as Frenzy) was an American competitor robot which fought in the War of Independence, broadcast as part of Series 4 of Robot Wars. Representing the USA, it reached the final before losing to UK series veteran Mortis, finishing runner-up overall. It also finished runner-up in the unaired MTV Pilot, losing to Mauler in the final there. Design frenZy was a yellow and silver, circular-shaped robot made out of CNC-machined 6061-T6 aircraft aluminium, and armed with a powerful titanium spiked hammer as its weapon. The hammer, alternately referred to as an 'axe' or a 'meat tenderiser', was electrically-operated, and capable of acting as a srimech as well as inflicting substantial amounts of damage to other robots. At 95.1kg, frenZy substantially exceeded the weight limit at the time of its appearance in Robot Wars. The Team frenZy was designed and driven by team captain Patrick Campbell, a mechanical design engineer who worked for Pace Technologies of Sun Valley, California. He was joined by his wife Joanna for the War of Independence, alongside his Team Minus Zero teammates George Melero and Emil Demillo, although only the latter two were mentioned on frenZy's statistics board during its introduction. Team Minus Zero would later fight in Season 2 of Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors with The Bat. Robot History MTV Pilot Before its televised debut in Robot Wars, frenZy was one of eight robots selected to compete in a pilot episode commissioned by MTV in July 2000. Although the withdrawal of one robot forced the field of competitors to be reduced to four, frenZy passed its on-site audition and maintained its place in the competitionGearheads: The Turbulent Rise of Robotic Sports. In the first round, frenZy fought The Mangulator. According to Gearheads: The Turbulent Rise of Robotic Sports, frenZy "decimated" The Mangulator, and comfortably won a one-sided battle. Through to the final, frenZy fought Mauler for the chance to win the competition. During the battle, a turning point occurred when frenZy's spike broke away from its hammer, as it was attacking The Mauler's top. This made frenZy vulnerable to attacks from the spinner, ultimately resulting in The Mauler becoming victorious, resigning frenZy to second place. Series 4 frenZy was one of four robots to represent the USA in the War of Independence, broadcast as one of several Christmas specials for the Fourth Wars. In its first-round battle, it fought UK competitor Detonator. frenZy immediately smashed Detonator's top panel several times with its hammer after driving up to it. Detonator drove away, but frenZy continued attacking, repeatedly hammering Detonator until its top panel became almost completely flattened. In doing so, frenZy momentarily got its hammer stuck in the arena floor, but was freed by Matilda and continued pounding Detonator until it was able to get its hammer impaled through its shell and drag it along. frenZy then pushed and whacked Detonator before inflicting more hammer blows and steering it towards a flame jet, where Detonator promptly caught fire. More attacks from frenZy dislodged Detonator's top panel, before frenZy repeatedly hammered Detonator's now-exposed internals until the House Robots dispatched Detonator via the Floor Flipper and the pit. Following this dominant performance, frenZy advanced to the second round. There, it faced Ming 2, another British representative. frenZy initially did not drive away from Ming 2’s initial charge, but its first blow immobilised Ming 2 immediately and allowed it to inflict a flurry of hits on the UK representative’s flipper. Eventually, frenZy slipped off of Ming 2's wedge and began attacking it from the side, repeatedly striking its top panel and wheels until Sgt. Bash and Dead Metal came to damage Ming 2 and send it to the arena hazards. frenZy progressed to the final, where it fought former UK series Semi-Finalist Mortis. Again, frenZy was slow to dodge Mortis' initial charge, but was scooped under, pushed and thrown onto its back by Mortis. frenZy self-righted, but was hammered and lifted again by Mortis, whose tanto blade caught the mechanism for frenZy's hammer and turned it over again in tandem with its lifter. It was momentarily held against the wall as it attempted to self-right again, but landed back on its wheels and hit Sergeant Bash after he grabbed it with his pincers. Lingering outside Sgt. Bash's CPZ, frenZy hit Mortis' top armour as it was pushed and pinned against the wall, and escaped as it used its hammer to throw itself over and re-right itself. It drove away from Mortis, only to be constantly axed and pushed around by the latter. frenZy was eventually pushed towards one of the side flame jets and turned over once again, but one of the motor magnets for its hammer broke, leaving it unable to self-right as Mortis hammered its underside several times. The House Robots proceeded to surround and attack frenZy, with Sir Killalot grabbing hold of it before leaving it on the Floor Flipper. frenZy was thrown across the arena before 'cease' was called, and finished runner-up in the War of Independence. 1996 Championship frenZy, entitled TerMinal frenZy, was featured in the American Robot Wars 1996, and was one of the robots specifically highlighted. In its first match it was drawn against newcomers Nemesis, who had attached a front wedge to deal with TerMinal frenZy specifically. The battle started tentatively as TerMinal frenZy spun in circles while Nemesis slowly approached TerMinal frenZy. Eventually, Nemesis charged into TerMinal frenZy who responds by smashing down with its axe. Nemesis gains the upper hand by ramming TerMinal frenZy into the side wall, TerMinal frenZy, however, gets away quickly before any more damage could be done. As TerMinal frenZy smashed down with the axe, it tore chunks of concrete from the arena floor. TerMinal frenZy continued its assault on Nemesis, penetrating the corner of the top armour and peeling the armour off slightly. By this point it was clear that Nemesis had lost all mobility and TerMinal frenZy went on through. TerMinal frenZy met BioHazard in the next round. BioHazard quickly sped forward as TerMinal frenZy attempted to position itself for an attack. TerMinal frenZy smashed down with its hammer only for the blows to deal little to no damage, BioHazard defended itself by having its lifting arm in an upward position, blocking any attacks. BioHazard then proceeded to lower the lifting arm before getting underneath and lifting TerMinal frenZy up and over. TerMinal frenZy attempted to self right but as it did it was unable to fully flip itself over again, instead TerMinal frenZy began to smoke and thus was counted out, eliminating TerMinal frenZy from the competition. TerMinal frenZy never competed in any other event after this. Results |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 3 *Losses: 2 Series Record UK Series US Series Outside Robot Wars TMZ.jpg|TMZ, Patrick Campbell's original robot Tmzrobot.gif|The innards of TMZ Cyberknight.jpg|Cyberknight, Patrick Campbell's Robot Wars 1995 Entry Frenzy 1996.jpg|frenZy in 1996 as TerMinal frenZy FrenZy Long Beach.jpg|frenZy in 1999, at BattleBots Long Beach frenzy 1999 test.png|frenZy in 1999 testing its axe FrenZy BBS1.jpg|The Robot Wars version of frenZy in the BattleBots arena AFKR3.0.jpg|Africanized Killer Bot Marauder_sfb01.jpg|Marauder Wendingo.jpg|Wendingo demonic.jpg|Demonic, an Antweight frenZy made its combat debut in the 1996 Robot Wars event under the name TerMinal frenZy. There, it beat Nemesis before losing to the eventual heavyweight champion BioHazard. It competed under its current name in Robot Wars 1997, but lost its first battle to Mash-N-Go. Also during the 1997 competition, frenZy became the first robot documented to self-right using an overhead weapon, using its hammer to do so after getting overturned during a heavyweight melee.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-evhuSTAkY#t=0m43s Patrick Campbell began competing in the original Robot Wars event in 1994, entering with a heavyweight and lightweight robot, both called TMZ. Both versions of TMZ were defeated in the first round by The Master and Pain Mower respectively.TMZ's profile on Arrick Robotics Campbell also entered Robot Wars 1995 with another heavyweight, Cyberknight, which won its first battle against Spirit of Frank before losing to eventual finalist Thor. frenZy also fought in all series of BattleBots up to Season 5.0. In its first competition at Long Beach in 1999, it won its first two battles, one of which was against Mauler, before losing to Nightmare and Punjar despite progressing through the loser's bracket. At Las Vegas later that year, Frenzy again won its first battle against Annihilator before again losing to BioHazard, although it would later win a grudge match against Slugger. Season 1.0 was the competition where the Robot Wars version of frenZy competed in BattleBots. It received a bye to face OverKill, but lost to the latter on a judges' decision. Sporting a new design, frenZy reached the semi-finals in Season 2.0, beating Panic Attack by knock-out along the way, only to be defeated again by BioHazard after its hammer stopped working and it was left unable to self-right. This was frenZy's most successful performance in BattleBots; in Season 3.0, it reached the round of 16 after defeating Towering Inferno via knock-out, before losing to Overkill again. frenZy would lose its first battles in Seasons 4.0 and 5.0, its final appearances in BattleBots. Team Minus Zero also competed in the Super Heavyweight Division in Season 3.0 of BattleBots with Africanized Killer Bot which competed as Marauder in Season 4.0 and as Wendingo in Robotica. Trivia *frenZy finished runner-up in both competitions in which it competed, each time to a robot that was entered into The First World Championship. *The version of frenZy that appeared in the War of Independence and the MTV Pilot was the version that entered Season 1.0 of BattleBots. *frenZy fought every UK representative in the War of Independence at some point in its career; three in the War of Independence itself, and the other in BattleBots. *frenZy was one of only six American robots to win a battle in the UK series, alongside Tentoumushi, Manta, Drillzilla, Spartacus and Flippa, and it was also one of the four to win a UK series battle which did not air as part of Extreme Warriors, with Tentoumushi, Spartacus and Flippa. *In 2003, frenZy received an Honorable Mention in The Combat Robot Hall of Fame, in honour of its pioneering electric-powered pickaxe and flamboyant attacking style.The Combat Robot Hall of Fame website References External Links *Team Minus Zero's robots on Mechatroniks *[http://battlebots.wikia.com/wiki/FrenZy frenZy on the BattleBots Wiki] *TMZ's website (Archive) Category:US Representatives Category:International event only competitors in the UK Series Category:Honourable Mentions in The Combat Robot Hall of Fame Category:Robots from California Category:Robots with more Wins than Losses Category:Robots with Hammers Category:1994-1997 US Robot Wars competitors Category:US robots that competed in BattleBots Category:Robots from teams that entered Robotica Category:Robots with Spiked Axes/Picks Category:Side Competition Runners Up Category:Robots to damage Sergeant Bash Category:Robots which only fought in International Events